Thank you very much for the opportunity to address this, the 20th Annual Workshop on Geothermal Reservoir Engineering. It is a pleasure to be here. A great deal of invaluable information has been brought forward through the Annual Workshops, and I give the Stanford University Petroleum Engineering Department a tremendous amount of credit for having the foresight 20 years ago to recognize the need for such an endeavor. While preparing for this talk, I realized it was nearly 30 years ago, this year, that the Department of Conservationís Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources, then called the Division of Oil and Gas, began regulating geothermal development in California. Although many of you are familiar with our geothermal program, in general, you may not be familiar with the history of the program and some of the special projects with which we are involved. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to briefly describe our history and a few of our special projects before I discuss the theme of this conference, what we have learned in the last 20 years. Californiaís oil and gas industry began when the first commercial well was completed in 1876. The industry grew rapidly, and it became apparent in the early Twentieth Century that some controls were necessary to protect hydrocarbon resources, groundwater, and the environment. Recognizing the shortcomings of the local regulatory efforts that were in place, the State Legiglature created what is now the Division in 1915. The Divisionís basic mandate was to prevent damage to oil and gas deposits from infiltrating groundwater and other causes. The charge was later expanded to encourage the wise development of oil and gas resources through good conservation and engineering practices. Although geothermal resources were also first exploited in the Nineteenth Century, it wasnít until development began in earnest in the early 1960s that the Legislature turned to the Division to establish a geothermal program similar to the oil and gas regulatory program. The enabling legislation, which was the first geothermal law in the Nation, was passed in 1965. Afterwards, as the industry grew, the Division created a Geothermal Unit to deal with the unique characteristics of the resource. In fact, Dave Anderson, whom you know, and who is the Executive Director of the Geothermal Resources Council, was our first Geothermal Officer. Marshall Reed, now with the U.S. Department of Energyís Geothermal Reservoir Technology Program, was one of his first assistants. From these early beginnings, our current program has evolved.

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